I swear, every day this week there has been a package waiting for us on the porch. First came the Britax marathon baby seat from Patrick’s folks:

It’s nice and roomy, which is great because now you have to keep your kids in safety seats right up through, oh, 11th grade or so. We almost put Lola in it for a test drive — that’s how big it is!

Next came a crib mattress and bedding from my folks — we were eager to get these so that when we put Patrick puts the crib together, we can get the whole thing all dressed up and ready to go.

Today we got another package from Patrick’s parents. In it was a snuggly baby carrier and a mirror we can put in the car to keep an eye on Joe while he snoozes in his little throne.

Last night was our last Confident Childbirth class. We almost made it through without laughing, but at the end we did this exercise where you have to clutch ice in your hand (ow!) and breathe through the pain. I was leaning against Patrick and hee-hee-hooing when he chastised me for not looking at my focal point. It won’t be as funny during the real event!

We might sign up for infant CPR or one of the basic baby care classes next. If I can get a photo of Patrick changing some doll’s diaper, you will see it here!

I visited MCV today. The midwives were lovely, but I don’t think that’s the place for Joe to be born. So St. Francis it is. My doctor has gotten a lot less nervous about the natural plan, so I’m feeling better about that.

This weekend, we’re off to Ikea to find some baby furniture. Joe’s room is looking a little bit like a warehouse now, with boxes and boxes of stuff but nowhere to put it all when we unpack it. If we can come home with a little armoire and a dresser/changing table, we’ll be almost finished!

A couple of weeks ago I got a digital voice recorder to use when I do interviews. I got tired of keeping track of tapes (do you know how hard it is to label those little-bitty ones?) and of running out of tape just when the conversation got good. So here’s what I use now:

It stores up to 130 hours of sound and you can organize everything into different folders. Then you can upload the files to your computer so that they stay with the story you’re working on and be stored with it forever. It also came with software that you can use to play it on the computer at any speed so you can slow it down for transcribing. (And the weird thing is that the person’s voice doesn’t sound distorted at high or low speeds. It just sounds like they’re really excited or maybe having a stroke.)

Here’s another thing I love: Perdue Perfect Portions chicken breasts. Each package comes with six chicken breasts of just the right size, individually wrapped.

The chicken breasts you get in the styrofoam trays always have 3 or 4 to a pack so if you’re cooking for two you have to figure out what to do with the extras. (Also, don’t those chicken breasts seem awfully thick? They take forever to thaw out.)

And last but not least, Freakonomics. Patrick and I listened to this on a car trip a couple of weeks ago and it was just fascinating.

The premise is that this guy who had a really great mind for economics was unfortunately bored to tears by all of the subjects it usually addresses. So he used what he knew about studying trends and correlations to study some really interesting questions, like:

If drug dealers make so much money, why do they still live with their mothers?

Which is more dangerous to a house full of kids — a gun or a pool?

Why did violent crime plummet in the mid-90s, right when every prediction was that we were headed for a “bloodbath” of gang violence?

There was also an interesting section on baby names that explained why some names are incredibly popular for a few years, and whether a bad name predicts a bad outcome.

The whole running thing has forced me to adopt a few other healthy habits. I’m going to bed earlier (usually), eating lighter foods and drinking loads of water.

To help with that last part, I went to Target in search of a reusable water bottle. This is what I got:

I love it so much! It keeps the water cool, fits in the cup holder and is just the right size. Plus, that little loop on the top makes it easy to carry around. I plop a few lemon slices in and refill it throughout the day.

(This means about 35 trips to the bathroom every day, but Patrick swears that’s good for me.)